Light for clothes drier



pri 30, 1953 .1. H. MONAHAN 3,088,021

LIGHT FOR CLOTHES DRIER Filed June 17, 1960 INVENTOR JD/V/V a w/m/m/y,

ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofice 3,088,021 Patented Apr. 30, 19633,088,021 LIGHT FOR CLOTHES DRIER John H. Monahan, 100 N. Rio VistaBlvd., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Filed June 17, 1960, Ser. No. 36,839 1Claim. (Cl. 248-2) This invention is a light for use in connection withclothes washing apparatus, particularly clothes driers.

Automatic clothes drying machines usually include a cabinet having theusual spinner or drying apparatus therein and having an opening in onewall thereof through which the clothes are admitted as well as removedfrom the drier. This opening is provided with a hinged door acting as aclosure. It is highly desirable to provide means whereby the interior ofthe cabinet may be illuminated when the door is opened, for applicationas well as removal of clothes, and wherein illumination occurs only whenthe door is open. It has heretofore been proposed to mount illuminatinglights either within or without the cabinet by a specially constructedlamp mounted on a horizontal axis, which devices have not met with anydegree of success. This is due to the fact that the vibrations of themachine when in ope-ration impair the light, necessitating replacementof the special light sometimes diffi-cult to obtain. Moreover, thepositioning of such lights has failed to as fully illuminate theinterior of the drier as is desired.

The present invention is directed to the construction of a lightattachment complete in a single unit which may be plugged into aconvenient electric outlet, which attachrnent is mounted upon theexterior of the cabinet by simple means, and is so constructed that anordinary illuminating electric bulb may be used therewith and mounted inSuch manner as not to be subject to impairment by the vibrations set upin the machine during its drying operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide an attachment of thecharacter generally stated which is equipped with an automatic switchoperable when the door of the drier is closed to break the circuitthrough the ignition bulb, and to automatically close the circuitthrough such bulb when the door is opened.

A further object of the invention is to provide an attachment of thecharacter generally stated which is of neat appearance, in no wayinterferes with the normal operations of the drying machine, and whichinvolves a supporting shell of such construction that while the lightbulb is positioned upon the exterior of the cabinet, the rays emanatingfrom the bulb will be directed into the door opening so as to fullyilluminate the interior of the machine when the door is moved to openposition.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an attachment ofthe character generally stated wherein the light bulb is supported on avertical axis and is so cushioned as to preserve the filaments of theilluminating bulb against impairment due to vibrations or jarring of themachine during its drying operations.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an illuminatingattachment of the character generally stated which is of simpleconstruction, is composed of but few simple and readily assembled parts,which may be attached to the drying machine by simple methods andwithout the necessity of special knowledge or skill, which will provethoroughly practical in use, and which may be manufactured and marketedat low cost.

With the foregoing objects in view, together with others which willappear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the novelconstruction, combination and arrangement of parts, all as will bedescribed more fully hereinafter, illustrated in the drawing, andparticularly pointed out in the claim.

In the drawing:

FIG. I is a perspective view of a conventional and well known type ofclothes drying machine showing the application of my improved attachmentapplied thereto,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevation of a portion of thedrying machine with the attachment applied thereto,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view through the casing anda portion of the door of the clothes drier and illustrating, in sideelevation, the attachment involving my invention, and

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially upon line 44of FIG. 3.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, the clothes drierselected for the application of the device of my invention comprises asubstantially rectangular cabinet 5 having a front face 6 provided withan access opening and a circular door 7 which swings upon a verticalaxis to open or closed positions with respect to said opening on thehinge 8.

The attachment of my invention includes a shell, formed preferably oflight steel or aluminum indicated generally at 9. This shell iscomparatively small, is closed at its top as at 10 and has a curvedvertical outer wall 11 terminating at its lower end at one side in adepending light reflecting skirt 12, the lower edge of which closelyapproaches the upper edge of the closure or door 7 of the drier. Thisshell is equipped at its sides with laterally extending lugs 13 havingperforations therein for the reception of securing bolts or screws 14 inorder that the shell may be rigidly attached in upright position to theexterior of the drier cabinet. It will be observed, particularly withreference to FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawing, that the edge of the skirt onone side terminates at 15 well above the lower edge, whereby thedepending portion of the skirt acts as a reflector to direct the lightrays from a bulb within the shell to the interior of the drier cabinetwhen the door 7 is moved to open position. This peculiar shape of thelower edge of the shell also allows ample space for the circular door 7to be opened without coming in contact with the shell skirt.

Arranged on a vertical axis within the shell 9 is a socket memberindicated at 16 and constituting the support for the ordinary electriclight bulb indicated at 17, one end of which is equipped with the usualthreaded contact member 18. This socket member is formed of shockproofmaterial such as rubber and is connected to the top 10 of the shell bymeans of the bolts 19.

Arranged upon the interior of the skirt 12 near the lower and inner edgethereof is a contact housing indicated generally at 20. This housing issecured to the shell in any desired manner and is provided with spacedcontact members 21 and 22. These contact members extend laterallythrough the housing 20 and the inner end of a resilient spring conductor23 is permanently connected to the contact member 21. The outer or freeend of this spring member is flexible so as to be engageable with thespaced contact member 22. The spring conductor projects beyond thecontact housing 20 as well as the lower end of skirt 12 so as to lie inthe path of the rim of door 7 as the latter swings to closed position.When the door is open or removed from the closure opening of thehousing, the spring conductor 23 will assume the position shown bydotted lines in FIG. 3 of the drawing, wherein it engages the end ofcontact member 22. However, when the door swings to closed position itwill engage the projecting end of spring conductor 23 and move it awayfrom contact 22 and into the position substantially as shown in fulllines in FIG. 3 of the drawings.

Electric energy is supplied to the lamp as well as to the contactelements by means of the ordinary outlet plug 24, the wire 25 of whichis permanently connected to contact 21, while the other terminal 26 isconnected to one side of the light socket as at 27. A conductor 28conmeets the other contact 29 of the light socket to the contact 22 ofthe switch.

With the attachment applied to the clothes drier in the manner statedand the plug 24 applied to an electrical outlet, it is obvious that withthe door in closed position, as shown in FIG. 3, electric circuitthrough the lamp will be broken by reason of the spring conductor 23being moved out of engagement with contact 22 by the rim of door 7. Uponopening the door, however, the spring conductor 23 will move to theposition shown in dotted lines in FIG. 3, whereupon the circuit will beclosed from the plug through the lamp 17 thus illuminating the latter,and the rays emanating therefrom will be directed to the interior of themachine as has heretofore been explained.

By mounting the ordinary lamp bulb in the cushioning socket 16, it isapparent that longer life of the light bulb is assured mainly becausevibrations set up in the drying machine as it operates will not betransmitted directly to the bulb. Moreover, and further to this end, bymounting the light bulb on a vertical axis the vibrations of thefilaments are less likely to occur. The particular construction andarrangement of this attachment permits the use therewith of ordinaryilluminating bulbs now on the market and no special type, size or kindof bulb is required in furthering the illumination of the interior ofthe drier.

I claim:

The combination with a drying machine having an opening in its frontwall and a closure door therefor hinged for swinging movement on avertical axis, a shell fixedly secured to the exterior of said machineadjacent to said opening and above the door hinge, said shell having adownwardly depending skirt formed of light-reflecting materialterminating adjacent to the edge of said door opening and being sopositioned as to be out of the path of said door when it is swung toeither open or closed position, a lamp mounted in said shell anddepending therefrom on a vertical axis and projecting light rays throughthe said opening and into the interior of the drying machine when thedoor is swung into open position, a cushioning member securing said lampto the top of said shell, a contact housing mounted in said shell, saidcontact housing having a movable spring contact secured thereto and withits free end disposed in the path of movement of said door, a fixedcontact mounted on said contact housing and spaced from said movablefixed spring contact, said door engaging said movable spring contact andmoving it out of engagement with said fixed contact when said door is inclosed position, an electrical outlet plug, one of the terminals of saidlamp being connected to one of the terminals of said electrical outletplug, said movable spring contact being connected to the other terminalof said electrical outlet plug, said fixed contact being connected tothe other terminal of said lamp, said movable spring contact beingbiased into engagement with said fixed contact when said door is in itsopen position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,504,952 Hieb Aug. 12, 1924 2,156,462 Schulte May 2, 1939 2,411,100MacDonald Nov. 12, 1946 2,506,517 Moore May 2, 1950 2,671,162 BelineMar. 2, 1954 2,686,252 Geraci Aug. 10, 1954 2,846,571 Rothen Aug. 5,1958 2,930,885 Ehrenfreund Mar. 29, 1960

